Nesiritide

Nesiritide Overview

Updated: March 24, 2017

Nesiritide is a prescription medication used to treat patients with severe heart failure who have trouble breathing. Nesiritide belongs to a group of drugs called vasodilators. These work by relaxing blood vessels and increasing the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart while reducing its workload.

Nesiritide is available in an injectable form that is given directly into a vein (IV) by a healthcare professional.

Common side effects of nesiritide include low blood pressure, nausea, headache, and back pain.

Nesiritide can also cause dizziness. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery until you know how nesiritide affects you.

Nesiritide Interactions

No drug interactions have been studied by the manufacturer. However, you should tell your doctor about all the medicines you take including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Not all drug interactions are known or reported and new drug interactions are continually being reported.

Nesiritide Food Interactions

Medications can interact with certain foods. In some cases, this may be harmful and your doctor may advise you to avoid certain foods. In the case of nesiritide, there are no specific foods that you must exclude from your diet when receiving this medication.

Nesiritide and Pregnancy

The FDA categorizes medications based on safety for use during pregnancy. Five categories - A, B, C, D, and X, are used to classify the possible risks to an unborn baby when a medication is taken during pregnancy.

Nesiritide falls into category C. There are no well-controlled studies that have been done in pregnant women. Nesiritide should be used during pregnancy only if the possible benefit outweighs the possible risk to the unborn baby.

Nesiritide and Lactation

It is not known if nesiritide crosses into human milk. Because many medications can cross into human milk and because of the possibility for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants with use of this medication, a choice should be made whether to stop nursing or stop the use of this medication. Your doctor and you will decide if the benefits outweigh the risk of using nesiritide.

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